Zunar fights back against intimidation campaign by Malaysian government

Zunar continues to not back down in the face of ongoing efforts by the Malaysian government to silence him. Last week he filed an application at the Federal Court to challenge the travel ban which was imposed by the Malaysian Government since June 2016 under “Special reason”

He also filed a judicial review challenge at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur on January 2nd, 2018 to set aside the ban on his book “Sapuman: Man of Steal.” Home minister and the government of Malaysia are named as respondents in the judicial review application.’The ban was announced in October last year by the Malaysian government because “the book was a threat to public order.”

Beside challenging the ban, Zunar is also seeking a declaration that the ban order is declared void and illegal, on the grounds that it is in violation of Section 7 of the Publication and Printing Presses Act 1984 (PPPA), violates Articles 5 (personal liberty), 8 (equality) and 10 (1)(a) (freedom of expression) of the Federal Constitution. He is also seeking general and special damages.

The government escalated it’s campaign against Zunar by pressing charges against his fans who attended a “tea party” in support of the cartoonist. They will face trial in April.

“Sapuman: Man of Steal” – a collection of Zunar’s political cartoons, was published in 2015.